-2-
~52

worked on the farm doing farm work, principally in the tobacco •
k ~ ~
fields and in the woods cutting timber and firewood. I slept on

a home -made bed or bunk ‚ while my mother and s I s ter slept in a bed . made by father on which they had a mattress made by themselves and filled with straw, while dad slept on a bench beside the bed and that he used in the day as a work bench, mending shoe ~ for ~ the slaves and others. I have seen mother going to the fields each day 1 ike other slave s to do her part of the rmng. ~I be ing considered as one of the household employees, my work was both in the field and around the stable, giving me an opportunity to meet people 3 orne of whom gave me a few pennie s . By thi s me thod I e arned some money which I gave to my mother»‘~I once found a gold. dollar, that was t1~ first dollar I ever had in my life.

	“We had nothing to eat but corn bread baked in ashes, fat back and vegetables raised on the farm; no ham or any other choice meats ; and f ish we caught out of the cre eks and ~streams.

	“My ~tather had some very fine dogs; we hunted coons, rabbits and öpossum. Our best dog was named Ruler, he would take your hat off • If my father said: ‘Ruler, take his hat off L ‚ ‚ be would jump up ànd grab your ~ h~at.

	~ ~ “We had a se et ion of the farm that the ~s lave s were allowed to‘farm for themselves, mynaistress *ould let them raise extra food for their own use at nights . ~ My father was the colored. overseer, he had charge of the entire plantation and ~ continued until he was to old to work, then mother‘s brother took it over, his ~ame was Caleb. . . ~ ~

~ .. j ~?Then I was a boy, I saw slaves going through and to Bryan-